Alumni

The Geography and Planning alumni community is one of the most active in the University of Toronto. Our alumni provide generous support to student life, and benefit themselves from this vibrant community.

Many of our alumni have given back to student life. Today, the Department is fortunate to have over 50 scholarships and awards to present to students thanks to the generosity of donors. Many donors have made contributions large enough to create a scholarship in their name, and attend our annual awards night to present the awards themselves.

Our most engaged alumni are members of one of our two alumni groups—the University of Toronto Association of Geography Alumni (UTAGA) or the Planning Alumni Committee (PAC). These dedicated volunteers run events and workshops, facilitate mentorship programs, publish newsletters, raise funds for scholarships and student activities, and provide volunteer experiences for students and recent graduates. Each committee holds a flagship annual event. PAC presents the Friends of Planning Spring Social, which attracts up to 300 professionals every year, and through sponsorship has generated funds for student field trips, workshops, student conference funding and scholarships. UTAGA is responsible for the annual Awards Night, which, along with acknowledging the success of our students, presents the UTAGA awards to alumni who have made significant contributions to the department and achieved great success in their careers.

Our alumni have an incredibly diverse range of professions, travel experiences and accomplishments, which they often share through our website and newsletter. They publish news of a new job or success, book release or other publishing, and photographs that are of interest to the broader alumni community. Sometimes a feature article is published that tells a travel story or more in depth account of a work experience.

Of course many alumni simply maintain address information with the Office of Advancement-Faculty of Arts and Science and receive newsletters, notices of events (such as UTAGA’s GeoTrips) and calls for submissions.

The Department, UTAGA and PAC invite all alumni to get involved, support student experience, or simply benefit from this active community.